1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a connector and a connection structure of the connector that are capable of allowing one connector housing and the other connector housing to be unlocked from each other by pressing an unlocking member provided in the one connector housing.
2. Background Art
JP-A-2014-56699 discloses a connector capable of allowing one connector housing and the other connector housing to be unlocked from each other by pressing an unlocking member having a pair of wedge pieces and provided in the one connector housing.
The connector disclosed in JP-A-2014-56699 functions as follows. Once the second connector housing (connector housing) is properly fitted to the first connector housing (counterpart connector housing), a pair of lock arms provided on the lateral sides of the second connector housing are in engagement with a pair of connecting engagement portions provided on the lateral sides of the first connector housing, thus locking the connector housings fitted to each other.
The second connector housing of the connector disclosed in JP-A-2014-56699 includes: arm operating pieces that are provided integrally with the lock arms and deflect the lock arms in a disengaging direction upon being pressed toward an inner space of the housing; and the unlocking member to be pushed to an unlocking position so as to press the arm operating arms toward the inner space of the housing, thus unlocking the connector housings from each other.
The pair of wedge pieces of the connector disclosed in JP-A-2014-56699 are inserted into a wedge insertion hole in the second connector housing and thus assembled into the second connector housing. The pair of wedge pieces are brought into engagement with the outer surfaces of free ends of the arm operating pieces, and are thus temporarily retained at a standby position. The pair of wedge pieces include unlocking tapered surfaces to press the outer surfaces of the free ends of the arm operating pieces toward the inner space of the housing so as to move the lock arms in an unlocking direction when the pair of wedge pieces are pushed to the unlocking position from the standby position.
Unfortunately, the connector disclosed in JP-A-2014-56699 has problems described below. The wedge insertion hole, provided in the second connector housing to allow the unlocking member to be assembled into the second connector housing, has symmetrical front and rear cross-sectional shapes. Thus, if the front and rear of the unlocking member are reversed, the unlocking member is still allowed to be inserted into the wedge insertion hole, making it impossible to prevent improper assembly of the unlocking member into the second connector housing.
The unlocking member of the connector disclosed in JP-A-2014-56699 is temporarily retained at the standby position by being engaged with the arm operating pieces integral with the lock arms. Thus, when the lock arms are deflected and displaced in the unlocking direction in the course of fitting the connector housings to each other, the deflection of the arm operating pieces responsive to the deflection and displacement of the lock arms reduces the area of engagement between the unlocking member and the arm operating pieces. This may release the temporary retainment of the unlocking member and result in disengagement of the unlocking member in the course of fitting the connector housings to each other.